Last Updated on January 5, 2026
The Mental Health Bill is to receive Royal Assent to modernise outdated mental health laws and improve care for seriously ill patients. It will reform the outdated Mental Health Act of 1983, which provides the legal framework to detain and treat people in a mental health crisis who are at risk of harm to themselves or others.
The modernised act will implement urgent reforms which experts have been calling for almost a decade, bringing mental health care into the 21st century and empowering patients to take charge of their treatment. It will support NHS staff to provide more personalised care for those who need it.
The new Mental Health Act will ensure patients have stronger rights and greater control over their treatment through new statutory care and treatment plans. Families and carers will have more involvement in decisions around treatment, giving them a say in supporting their loved ones.
Racial disparities in treatment will be addressed through clearer guidance for mental health professionals. Black people are 3.5 times more likely to be detained than their White counterparts. Autistic people and those with learning disabilities who do not have a mental health condition have been often inappropriately detained.
The act will also strengthen the rights of children and young people to make their wishes and feelings more central to decision making, ensuring they, and those close to them, are consulted and involved where appropriate with decisions around their care and treatment.  
Furthermore, courts will no longer be able to detain someone in prison as a place of safety while they wait for a hospital bed for treatment or assessment under the Mental Health Act to become available.
The Mental Health Act implements reforms proposed by Sir Simon Wessely in his Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018. Sir Simon is a chair of psychological medicine at King’s College London and a world-leading figure in the field.
Sir Simon’s report flagged four core principles that needed to be reformed in the Mental Health Act, including giving patients more choice over their care and ensuring the act’s powers are used in the least restrictive way possible. Government is now starting to develop the detailed guidance on the new act before it comes into force.
Commenting on the announcement, Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary, said, 'For too long, thousands of vulnerable people in mental health crises have been failed by outdated laws that stripped away their dignity and voice.
'The new Mental Health Act will transform lives by putting patients back in control of their care, tackling the unacceptable disparities that have seen black people detained at disproportionately high rates, and giving NHS staff the tools to deliver care that truly helps people recover.
'This delivers on our manifesto commitment to finally bring mental health care into the 21st century. After years of neglect, we are rebuilding a mental health system to treat people with the dignity and respect they deserve.'
Baroness Merron, Minister for Mental Health, said, 'It has been a privilege to guide this landmark bill through Parliament on behalf of thousands of patients and families who have campaigned for change.
'These reforms address longstanding injustices in our mental health system. Patients will now have a genuine say in their treatment through statutory care and treatment plans. Families will be properly involved in decisions. And we’re tackling the unacceptable racial disparities that have seen Black people detained at over three times the rate of White people.'
To read Sir Simon Wessely's Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, click here.
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